7 minute read
Mentorship Turned Partnership
Idaho National Laboratory awarded construction projects to ESTECH
By Cindy Chan
The concrete pour for SPL was one of the largest undertaken at INL since the 1980s. Above: SPL is located on INL’s desert Site, at the Materials & Fuels Complex.
Over the last several years, Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has experienced quite a bit of growth.
There has been growth in the number of people they’re hiring, growth in the number of facilities they’re building, and growth in the number of renovations of existing facilities. While it has been an exciting time for INL, it has also created some challenges.
According to Amy Lientz, director of supply chain energy programs at INL, things don’t seem to be slowing down any time soon, which is why they need a good subcontracting community with which to partner and do good work. Lientz says they have since put more effort into supply chain initiatives, collaborating with Stacey Francis, small business program manager.
“There are opportunities available for small businesses to do work at INL,” Lientz says. “There are often businesses that are looking at what we’re
doing at INL but then choose not to pursue those opportunities.” Lientz adds businesses sometimes think they aren’t able to do work at INL, so they don’t bid on the work.
“They’re not often familiar with the administrative requirements or what it takes to do work on a site like ours,” Lientz says.
Some of the things currently in place to strengthen the supply chain as well include improved communications, workforce projections, and a partnership with career technical education. INL, in partnership with the Idaho Department of Commerce, has launched the Quarterly INL Contractors Supplier Roundtable, which aims to share upcoming opportunities, lessons, and ideas on how to do work with INL site contractors, as well as to provide a platform on which suppliers can bring ideas and ask questions. Additionally, the INL Small Business Program hosts a supplier engagement webinar series to highlight partnership opportunities.
INL has also hired a labor economist to project workforce needs for the next five years. The information helps to determine the highest areas of need for subcontracting. Lastly, INL also works with education leadership to put new or revised programs in place to help train the future workforce.
So what do small companies have to do to conduct construction work with INL? Francis says they must sign the site stabilization agreement. A coordinator is available to help the company get signed up, understand the requirements, introduce them to different unions, and make introductions. Companies must also be registered at sam.gov and in INL’s vendor portal on their website, vendor.inl.gov.
“Another thing that is important for construction companies to be successful is back-office, understanding paperwork, and making sure the flow is quick so we can move on with projects,” Francis says.
“We like our in-state small businesses, as we have a contract requirement to do 30 percent of our procurement value within Idaho,” Francis adds. “But beyond the contract requirement, it’s
Left: Estech, LLC has served as the construction subcontractor for the SPL project. They have worked closely with INL throughout the process to ensure they meet laboratory safety standards.
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nice to work with companies in-state because they understand what it takes to do a project in Idaho. We have a short construction season in Idaho and there are aspects of doing work here that maybe aren’t the same elsewhere.”
Francis says one of the challenges in bringing more construction contractors to INL is that commercial and residential construction industries are way more active. “It’s a lot easier to put up a house or commercial building than to work with the requirements we have. It’s a different ballgame when you work in a national lab, but there is the potential for a great partnership that can be beneficial to both parties.”
To build more interest for organizations to bid on their projects, INL has put together a supplier engagement webinar series focused on partnership opportunities, including those available in construction, in order to put those opportunities out there. Companies are able to have an idea of what is coming up and what they can bid on.
INL wanted to highlight a recent project that exemplifies a solid working partnership to encourage more small businesses to work with them. INL recently mentored ESTECH, a small construction company in the Boise/Meridian area who hadn’t completed large federal projects before, especially nuclear-type projects.
ESTECH won through competitive procurement construction of the MFC (Materials and Fuels Complex) Administration Building, which established a feel for doing work on-site, and then won SPL (Sample Preparation Laboratory). The MFC consists of 17 different nuclear facilities. The SPL is INL’s biggest project since BEA (Battelle Energy Alliance) took over the contract.
“It will establish a Category 3 nuclear lab for assessing materials in a nuclear environment,” Brady Orchard, project director for the MFC at INL, explains, adding the construction project is just shy of $85 million. “Right now, we are one year into a three-year construction window on that project.”
“One thing I’ve been particularly happy with ESTECH is their ability to look forward to what’s coming up and plan ahead versus
As a small business, Estech, LLC has been able to work on one of the lab’s larger projects.
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being reactionary in the field,” notes Orchard.
During the procurement planning process, INL issued a bundle of three RFIs (request for interest), inviting local and regional companies with the capability to support the sizes of these projects. ESTECH was one of the applicants. Orchard says ESTECH won the MFC Administration Building job, which gave them an opportunity to get their feet wet to understand INL’s processes and procedures.
“We were pleased to award SPL to ESTECH also based on the RFP process,” Orchard adds. “They demonstrated their ability to deliver that facility in a cost-effective manner.”
Mark Allen, director of operations at ESTECH, says they saw a lot of good work coming out of INL and wanted to be a part of it. It was ESTECH’s interaction with INL on the first project, understanding of the requirements, desire to work, and overall past experience that earned INL’s confidence to give them the SPL project.
“They understood the importance of safety in our environment and the importance of quality, schedule, and cost,” Orchard says.
“As a small company, it’s hard to find opportunities to compete. The work at INL is somewhat intimidating for a lot of contractors if their background has mainly been commercial, residential, and private work. The volume of paperwork and the safety standards are at a significantly higher standard; you’ll only see that in government, military, or large-scale projects. However, ESTECH has proven that businesses should not shy away from working with the lab. They have learned quickly how to meet these requirements and, with strong mentorship from INL, have quickly proven their capabilities.”
Lientz advises companies interested in doing work with INL to not disregard a government contractor as a customer simply because there are additional requirements. While government contractor work is different from the commercial industry, INL provides mentorship to help companies meet safety and quality expectations so they are successful.
Allen says the mentorship by INL was a smooth process; the RFI initial proposal stages included efficient back-and-forth communication. ESTECH was able to have all their questions answered, and INL provided plenty of detail and depth.
After working with ESTECH, Orchard is confident that there will be additional long-term opportunities for more companies to work on similar projects after witnessing the growth at INL for the past four to five years. Lientz adds that the opportunities don’t just start and end at INL. There are opportunities for small companies to complete work for other contractors in addition to working with INL.
“That’s always good for business – they see the suite of opportunities that surround them,” she says.
“There are lots of exciting projects coming up on the site, and we would like to be involved in as many as we can,” Allen says. l
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